This whole song is a double entendre, comparing his despair after ruining his relationship with getting shot in the head.
Waking up zeroed in on medicine
Am I waking up at all today
Seeing lights, feeling pain
There's my cure on ice
I can walk but I will crawl there
I will crawl there
(The apparent story here is he's waking up and needs medicine, however the symbolic meaning is about his despair driving him to alcoholism. Most people in depression wake up feeling weak and afraid, and they often find something to make them forget they are afraid/sad "Waking up, zeroed in on medicine". In the case of this song that something is alcohol "Seeing light, there's my cure on ice". The later part describes alcoholism perfectly: being so drunk you can't walk but insisting you're not drunk "I CAN walk, but I WILL crawl there", implying he thinks he can walk, but he's crawling there because he "wants" to, even though it's obvious he just can't.)
Sitting straight, feeling faint
An exhausted smile screens my words
But I will hear them
Here's a phrase that we all know
But I can't make sense
I don't know words but I will hear them
I still hear them
(Here his describing a common effect of brain damage, where the victim's language centers are damaged making it impossible for them to understand speech, even though they recognize the sounds involved, coincidently (or not) extreme intoxication has a very similar effect. At the same time he is describing someone in an extreme depression. "Sitting straight, feeling faint" refers to depression victims tendency to hide what they are feeling, his sitting straight [trying to appear healthy] even though inside it hurts. "An exhausted smile screens my words, but I will hear them" is an allusion to depressed people lying about being happy.
He also is conveying the feeling of complete ineptness depressed people feel "Here's a phrase that we all know, but I can't make sense" indicating that to him even the simplest tasks seem insurmountable. What makes it worse is he can't come up with a way to express how he feels, and when he tries nobody understands the extent of his desperation, yet they offer hollow, useless advice "I don't know words, but I can hear them, I still hear them")
Never ran away for the sake of scars
Tried not to move but she was armed
And shots were fired
Now a hole in the head of this wounded liar
(He didn't used to be afraid of relationships, even though he's had quite a few end badly "Never ran away for the sake of scars" yet this one affected him differently. He did his best to make this one work "tried not to move". Presumably he was in love: "but she was armed" inferring he was vulnerable against her. In spite of his attempts, this romance ended badly "shots were fired' and it destroyed him "there's a hole in the head of this wounded liar" the interesting part is that using "liar" to represent himself eludes to him being the one at fault for the failure.)
Never had a drink that I didn't like
Got a taste of you, threw up all night
I got more sick
With every sour second rate kiss
Everything I never would miss again
(This guy was once a ladies man, looking at women as petty thrills like drinks "never had a drink that I didn't like". However this one hurt him big time, and now he hates himself because of her "Got a taste of you, threw up all night". In the last three lines the guy falls into a denial that the women ever meant anything to him "I got more sick... every thing I never would miss again")
I don't know who your boyfriend
(Outwardly this could mean amnesia [some amnesia is pretty much guaranteed to come with a head wound] but figuratively he sings of how the loss of this woman destroyed his sense of self i.e. he doesn't even know who he is without her.)
This whole song is a double entendre, comparing his despair after ruining his relationship with getting shot in the head.
Waking up zeroed in on medicine Am I waking up at all today Seeing lights, feeling pain There's my cure on ice I can walk but I will crawl there I will crawl there
(The apparent story here is he's waking up and needs medicine, however the symbolic meaning is about his despair driving him to alcoholism. Most people in depression wake up feeling weak and afraid, and they often find something to make them forget they are afraid/sad "Waking up, zeroed in on medicine". In the case of this song that something is alcohol "Seeing light, there's my cure on ice". The later part describes alcoholism perfectly: being so drunk you can't walk but insisting you're not drunk "I CAN walk, but I WILL crawl there", implying he thinks he can walk, but he's crawling there because he "wants" to, even though it's obvious he just can't.)
Sitting straight, feeling faint An exhausted smile screens my words But I will hear them Here's a phrase that we all know But I can't make sense I don't know words but I will hear them I still hear them
(Here his describing a common effect of brain damage, where the victim's language centers are damaged making it impossible for them to understand speech, even though they recognize the sounds involved, coincidently (or not) extreme intoxication has a very similar effect. At the same time he is describing someone in an extreme depression. "Sitting straight, feeling faint" refers to depression victims tendency to hide what they are feeling, his sitting straight [trying to appear healthy] even though inside it hurts. "An exhausted smile screens my words, but I will hear them" is an allusion to depressed people lying about being happy. He also is conveying the feeling of complete ineptness depressed people feel "Here's a phrase that we all know, but I can't make sense" indicating that to him even the simplest tasks seem insurmountable. What makes it worse is he can't come up with a way to express how he feels, and when he tries nobody understands the extent of his desperation, yet they offer hollow, useless advice "I don't know words, but I can hear them, I still hear them")
Never ran away for the sake of scars Tried not to move but she was armed And shots were fired Now a hole in the head of this wounded liar
(He didn't used to be afraid of relationships, even though he's had quite a few end badly "Never ran away for the sake of scars" yet this one affected him differently. He did his best to make this one work "tried not to move". Presumably he was in love: "but she was armed" inferring he was vulnerable against her. In spite of his attempts, this romance ended badly "shots were fired' and it destroyed him "there's a hole in the head of this wounded liar" the interesting part is that using "liar" to represent himself eludes to him being the one at fault for the failure.)
Never had a drink that I didn't like Got a taste of you, threw up all night I got more sick With every sour second rate kiss Everything I never would miss again
(This guy was once a ladies man, looking at women as petty thrills like drinks "never had a drink that I didn't like". However this one hurt him big time, and now he hates himself because of her "Got a taste of you, threw up all night". In the last three lines the guy falls into a denial that the women ever meant anything to him "I got more sick... every thing I never would miss again")
I don't know who your boyfriend
(Outwardly this could mean amnesia [some amnesia is pretty much guaranteed to come with a head wound] but figuratively he sings of how the loss of this woman destroyed his sense of self i.e. he doesn't even know who he is without her.)